Always On

Episode 30: Unboxing Google's Chromebook Pixel

Molly Wood and Jeff Cannata unbox the Google Chromebook Pixel and the I'm Watch from Mobile World Congress. Plus, we torture-test the Google Nexus 10 and checkout the future of log-ins and passwords.

22:57 / March 12, 2013

Transcript

-It's so nice reading Tale of Two Cities here in the bathtub.
-This week on Always On, we unbox the Google Chromebook Pixel and for Mobile World Congress, a very cool wearable SmartWatch.
-Plus I try to break the Google Nexus 10 in this week's Torture Test.
-And it's the future of logins and passwords, eye ball scanning is coming soon to your smartphone.
-Uh-oh, my phone went off.
-Always On is on.
-Oh, God.
Oh, Jesus.
-Welcome to Always On.
I am Molly Woods.
-And I'm Jeff Cannata.
-And this is the show where we take a look at the tech that's part of your life.
-And your future.
-And we are finally back from our long, long trip to Barcelona, Spain.
-It was so much fun.
-I know, so much good food and good product announcements.
-Right.
Products.
-From Mobile World Congress.
-Not the food.
-Phone is not food.
We conducted a wonderful phone road test.
We put in the BlackBerry Z10 against the BlackBerry Z10 and each other.
-Right.
-That's gonna be good but you're not gonna see that until next week.
-No.
It's awesome.
You're not gonna wanna miss that but this week is also awesome and we're kicking things off with an unboxing of Google's new touchscreen notebook.
-Yeah, the Chromebook Pixel.
Pretty exciting unboxing today.
-The Pixel arrives.
-Yes, the Chromebook Pixel.
I think this is the one that was so cool looking that there was like a YouTube video about it and then everyone thought it was a hoax because it looks so cool.
-But it wasn't a hoax.
-But it wasn't a hoax, and here it is.
-And here it is.
We've got one and you have a knife of incredible majesty.
-I have the Rad nights that the RadViewer sent us.
This part needs to be nice.
-I appreciate that.
-Yay.
And then look,
for safety, hold on.
-Here we go.
-All right.
Okay.
Hey, looks like there might be a MacBook in here.
I think a MacBook.
-Is it a MacBook.
-I don't know, I don't know.
Wait, it's not.
-Oh, it has the same Apple on it.
-Google.
Diplastic it and here.
-It was the one with those flat forms.
-Oh, for God's sake, why they could do-- they dis this with the Nexus 2 and it took me like half an hour to get it out of the box.
-There you go.
-Hello.
Wow.
That is beautiful.
-Look at the awesome chrome hinge.
-Okay.
Can I just take a moment to say that this is basically all I've ever wanted in a laptop industrial design?
Like no branding, no kind of crap cluttering and just a flat black fox.
What's here?
Hey, look at this.
-That's really pretty.
-You wanna touch it?
-Yeah, I do.
Wow.
-So, the only place that has chrome is right there.
That's pretty smooth--
-That--
-Wow, it's so nice.
-It's absolutely stunning.
-Did I turn right on?
-Yeah, oh yeah.
-Oh, I did.
Oh my God, it's beautiful.
-And look, they put like a beautiful picture right on the display.
So, you can see it right off the batt.
-But it's got that weird 32 aspect ratio.
-That's it, huh.
-Yeah, cord.
-So, these are two sets of power.
-Yeah.
-Because this just totally meant to be wireless all the time.
I don't know, I'm clicking continue but nothing is happening but that's nice.
-Oh, that's the thing, it has to be wireless all the time 'cause there's no hard drive in it.
-Yeah.
In fact, speaking of the total lack of hard drive
and other things on the inside, let's break down the specs.
The Chromebook Pixel runs Google Chrome OS.
It has a dual core 1.8 GHz Intel Core i5 processor.
It has middling graphics, an integrate Intel HD 4000 graphics card, and 4 gigs of memory.
The hard drive is a somewhat surprising 32 GB solid-state drive, and it's not the fastest drive on the market either.
The display is 12.85 inches.
It falls into the 13-inch
category.
It's HD as you probably notice with the resolution of 2560 by 1700.
Also, a touchscreen, so if you feel like putting your Grammy paws all over your beautiful pixel display, go crazy.
The Chromebook Pixel weighs 3.3 pounds.
It has built-in WiFi and Bluetooth 3.0.
It also has USB 2.0, a mini display port, an SD card reader and a microphone headphone jack.
In terms of pricing, it starts at, again,
a somewhat surprising $1299.
You can also step up to a version for $1449 that has built-in 4G LTE support.
So, unquestionably gorgeous.
-Yeah.
I think--
-Like crazy gorgeous.
-I can tell you love it.
-I do.
-Already.
-I am totally in love with it, although, I completely understand the draw box.
-It's a hard drive space.
I think over the long term, you would be very frustrated by that.
-I would think actually over the extremely short term, and
frustrated by that.
I have 128 gig solid-state drive in my MacBook Air and that's probably the primary competitor to this.
I'm out of room.
I mean, I'm completely out of space already.
-And it does feel a little heavy, but boy, that display is gorgeous.
-My goodness.
Would you wanna touch it?
-I do.
-I mean like--
-I do wanna touch it.
-Well, I mean, I know you do want to but over the long term, you know, you've got this beautiful display, different [unk]
-Well, I personally really hate mouse pads.
-Yeah.
-So, I would love the touchscreen.
-No, I love the touchscreen.
I've been looking forward to that too.
I-- I mean, I have to say, I think it is
sort of a typical Google product.
Their industrial design has gotten phenomenal.
This is a gorgeous machine.
The price is definitely high and it's for a small set of people who kind of only live on the web but I don't know, I think I could maybe become one of those people.
-Well, next up.
We got more Google coming at you.
I tortured a Nexus 10, actually took a bath with it.
-He did.
It's beautiful.
Check it out.
-Oh, hello.
I'm just enjoying Ice Age on the Nexus 10 tablet in beautiful 16 by 9. Where this tablet really shines is watching stuff because man, that aspect ratio is Rad.
Dig the tablet.
But you know what I was thinking, could this handle an actual Ice Age?
Ice Age in the ice box.
Cold to
touch.
Let's see this bad boy.
No problem.
It turned right on, no delay, whatsoever.
Five new messages.
I got a lot of message while it was in the freezer like, hey, it's cold in here and brrr.
It's time for the heat test with the Nexus 10.
You know what,
I think I'm gonna add the pizza.
That's some weirdness.
That is definitely some weirdness.
I guess we'll just have a slice of pizza and wait for this thing to cool down and see if whatever is happening on the screen is contagious.
Just one.
Trying to see and wanna turn it back on.
That my friends is a fail.
So, I recant my fail.
It's back.
It just needed a little bit of TLC, a little reset action and some downtime and it's working fine.
Reading here in the bath.
Uh-oh, my phone went off.
Bad things, oh, God.
Oh, Jesus.
Oh, Jeez.
Oh, that's not good.
Turn it
off.
Turn it off.
-Turn if off.
-Out of the top, deal with the situation.
-All right, well, we're gonna pack this thing in rice over night and see if that will do it.
It Really wasn't in the water long.
I guess I don't get to leave tonight.
If only there was some non-electrical version is reading, stunning, right?
Oh, I'm sure it's fine.
I'm sure it's no problem to my-- but
it is usable.
It is still working.
So, that's a you know, quite good.
I'm at the park for some Frisbee action.
The Nexus 10 is still operational, though admittedly very dim.
So, you have to just take my word for it that the screen is and active.
He can get a pass that rock right here.
I wanna go for it.
Oh, yes.
I got pressed the rock.
Still on orientation change which as it should in flight but still working fine.
We got some serious hazards on the course.
But I think I can get past that other rock.
Ready?
Oh, it slipped down in my hand.
Oh, I think we may have lost touch sensitivity.
So, turning it
off.
Doesn't wanna turn off.
I think it's time to move to the swings.
Nothing like enjoying a nice leisurely day at the park, finishing up my reading of Tale of Two Cities on my Nexus 10 tablet, but then, you realize what?
It was the best of times and the worst of times.
That was a pretty good fling I gotta say.
If I do say so myself and no cracks.
Some scuffing on the back but no cracks, that's a pretty great job test.
You can get over some minor headache inducing rolling, think you can still enjoy some reading, some movies and
a lot of multimedia on your Nexus 10 tablet, even if you choose to use it as an ultimate Frisbee device as people on Twitter evidently want to.
Nexus 10.
this is really good.
Too bad I'm getting an aneurism reading it.
-Dude, I can't believe that you called that a pass.
-Whoah.
-The Nexus 10.
I've been a lot of
terrible things doing.
-I mean, you'll get a seizure and you can't really look at it exactly.
-It won't.
No, it was working.
-All right--
-Just because your brain will explore.
You did come back and that was pretty impressive.
-Yeah.
-All right.
It's time for a quick break everyone.
When we come back, Jeff, we'll take a look at a cool new SmartWatch that could be a hint of what's to come if Apple every gets into this game.
-Yes.
And passwords are your present but in the few future that'll be a thing of the past.
-Thank goodness.
-We haven't seen a lot of wearables around the show but we did run into the I'm Watch, which is Italian.
-Yes.
-And we're gonna do an unboxing right now.
-Which mean it should have nice leather on the band, I would know.
They're calling it the world's first SmartWatch.
-Check that out.
This is the black one.
They come in a whole bunch of different colors.
-Not a nice leather band.
-No, not a nice leather band, plastic band.
-We'll see in here.
Or probably you're a little--
-I'm
left-handed tampering on my right hand.
-USB charging cable.
-Isn't it-- not too--
-It's a little big.
-It's clearly upside down for me but it's right setup for you.
-Hey, you do that on purpose.
-English, South African English, EspaÃ±ol, English United States.
-There you go.
-Touch screen interface.
-Here, I'll help you.
Next--
-Just little time, it's fine.
-Time, who cares?
And like you're really, time, who cares?
-It's a lot.
We don't even tell a time for.
-It's a lot.
We don't even know what time it is.
All right.
So, now, calibrate your I'm Watch sensors,
-To my phone?
-in order to get the best out of them.
Start calibration, not your phone yet.
-Oh, okay.
Looks like--
-Now, it says place your I'm Watch on a horizontal surface.
I have one.
-Please rotate slowly your I'm Watch in all directions.
-Oh, rotate it.
This is exciting.
You do like a little Guns N' Roses again.
-Yeah.
-That's right.
-Well, excellent action.
Calibration complete.
Oh, connect with your smartphone now.
-Oh, boy.
-I'm Watch.
-I'm Watch.
-Contact importing may take several minutes, several time actually it says, it takes several time.
-Contact importing may take several time.
That is awesome.
-Let's take a little time to look at the specs.
The I'm Watch comes in three models.
There are seven colors to choose from, the color model which is made out of aluminum, the tech version is made out of titanium and the fancy jewel model is made out of silver or golf.
There's a 1.54-inch color display with 240
by 240 pixel resolution.
The watch itself runs on a customized Android Operating System and it communicates with smartphones like Android and iOS via Bluetooth tethering and this is key, you'll need Bluetooth to run many of the internet features from your phone to the watch.
It's not a standalone device.
There's a built-in rechargeable battery which gives you about 48 hours of standby time without Bluetooth and 24 hours with it.
They say it offers up to 3 hours of talk time using the watch's speaker phone and you can charge it from USB to a PC or via
a power adapter.
There's a 3.5 mm headphone connection, a microphone and a built-in speaker.
-So, this guy costs $249 or also 249 Euros.
-Yes.
-So, a little bit expensive but if it works as advertise, I mean, I think that we both agree this is a promising trend.
People want this.
-I'm ready for wearables personally.
So, I hope that this is as cool as it seems to be.
I can already tell it gets smudgy real quick and something that you wear outside all the time it's gonna get a little smudgy.
-But you know what, it's
got the plastic on, so--
-Oh.
-it's okay.
Look, here I'll fix it.
-You know what, that's happened to me before.
-It's gonna be a lot less smudgy.
-When you do that, oh.
-Look now, it's shiny and pretty.
-Really.
-I fixed it.
-I gotta take you everywhere.
I don't know what I would do.
Very cool.
So, we'll have to check this out more.
-Yeah.
-I'll try [unk] spaces.
-So, there you go, the I'm Watch SmartWatch here at Mobile World Congress 2013, out of the box.
So, that was a very-- I mean, a true unboxing with PR people
staring us down.
-Yes.
And I've been using the watch a lot since then and I think we're gonna talk about it a little more when we have some more to compare it to.
-That's right.
The Pebble Watch, some other competitors are coming out.
-Yeah.
-I'm not so sure if you want something that you need to charge attached to your wrist but more on that later.
-Uh-huh, he didn't like it.
-You're reading between the lines.
-I can't help it.
I'm just assuming.
All right.
Moving on to Future Tech.
You know, how in movies there's never any passwords?
-Yes.
Why would you need them?
It's the future.
-Right.
It's the future and there's like eyeballs
and fingers and--
-Yeah, until the enemy rips your eye ball out and uses it to get into the secret room, because he ripped your eye ball out like enemies do.
-Sometimes the future isn't that cool but in this case you're gonna be fine and your eyeballs are gonna be perfectly safe and you wouldn't have to remember your passwords.
The future is amazing.
Check it out.
It seems like every laptop, tablets, smartphone and website has some kind of password.
And that makes sense we need to have our data protected but it's also impossible to keep track of a password for every website we visit or every device that we own.
-So, the vision that I see for the future is one key all internet.
So, in my key chain here, literally this is my key to my house, to my bike and this is the key to my internet.
-Yubico's YubiKey uses NFC technology to make logging into smartphones and laptops
more seamless.
-This is an application I will log into LastPass, which is one of the password manager supports Yubikey.
-Right.
-And I'll put my key behind my phone and it will automatically launch the application.
-Great.
NFC is like magic every time you use it.
-There's a little doubt that password authentication is an area right before innovation and the big guys are definitely keen
to kill the password.
Google is looking into Yubico's tech for its Chrome Books, while Microsoft is playing with picture password protection with Windows 8, then there's Apple's recent buyout of AuthenTec, a fingerprint biometrics company.
PIPA in the UK is also targeting biometrics by developing fingerprint-based authentication for tablets and smartphones.
And Bionime will soon be shipping software that uses a sample of your electrocardiogram to log in
and authenticate.
But the coolest tech I've seen lately is iVerify.
This startup uses your smartphone's camera to image and pattern mash the blood vessels in the whites of your eyes.
-It's gonna take pictures.
-Look up into the right.
-So, we have to do this two or three times initially.
-Look up into the left.
-Look up into the right.
-All right.
So, you're now enrolled.
Right.
-Cool.
-Yes.
So, now, we will see if we can get you verified and now do that
exact same thing again.
-Look up into the left.
-Right there, look up into the left.
-Look up into the right.
-And you're in.
-And I'm in.
-There you.
Look at that.
-Wow.
-Still not everyone is convinced that biometrics is the way for the future.
-We have choose today not to include biometrics because my biometrics is static information and--
-True but no one can steal it.
-Yes.
-Well, I guess they could steal your eyeball.
I saw that on movie once.
-They can steal a picture of your face and picture off your
fingerprints and it's already happened.
-But iVerify has an answer for that.
-No one outside of terrible action movies can take my act for me.
-We know for anything, when your blood stops pumping, different things happen to your blood vessels, they're kinda small pressurized, flexible tubing, they actually change significance.
-All right.
-So, you can't actually steal someone's eye.
There you go.
-Nor picture of the eye, nor video of the eye.
-Take that Hollywood.
-Yes.
-So, whether it's your fingerprint, your heart rate, your eyeball or a key that you carry around, I think we can all agree that the password's
days are numbered, and that is a good thing.
-I am very glad that man explained that dead people's eyeballs are different than living people's eyeballs, so, no reason to steal eyeballs.
-I always wondered about that in the movie actually, to be honest.
-Really?
-Like, would that dead eyeball really work?
-I just assumed it would.
I mean, I can't doubt Tom Cruise my grace.
-Our eyeballs are perfectly synced in the future.
I would have
gotten with a key chain too, either way.
Eyeball key chain.
-Yeah.
You wanna do this action when you're--
-It's like in public.
-logging into something.
-Oh, I think so.
-Trying to check my bank statement.
-I want you guys to e-mail us actually or tell us whether you prefer the key chain or the eyeball in public.
Meanwhile, let's answer some of this week's mail.
Our first e-mail comes from my favorite type of person, the Always On expert viewer.
-And this guy is an expert in thermostats.
-Yeah, yeah.
Turns out.
All right.
Prepare for an education.
Hi there, Molly.
Just wanted to say that the Nest Thermostat is a very nice looking device.
Unfortunately, it's got a long way to go.
I would like it to be wireless from the furnace to the interface like some Honeywell T-stats are.
-I like T-stats.
-And they're like, who says thermostat anyway?
-You have to breathe into [unk].
-And also be able to integrate other H-back equipment like the Eco
BETAs.
These are only a few reasons why my customers have not gone with the Nest even though they wanted one.
Keep up the great work, you guys do every week.
Adios, Victor, H-back engineering technician for indoor climate control.
-Wow.
-Boom.
-Drop the mic.
-Turns out the Nest sucks.
-You know, it is a very attractive device but I am shocked that something that designed does not have wireless.
-I am not shocked because pretty without substance is just an enduring role of our time.
-It's true.
Our next e-mail
comes from Ner, I mean, anonymous.
He writes, on yesterday's episode, you showed the Nano's price as $299 fro 32 gigabytes.
There is no 32-gigabyte model for that.
Only a 16-gigabyte model for $149.
-Oh.
-He just wanted to point this out.
P.S. for all messages past and future, mark me as anonymous if you're gonna mention names.
-Anonymous.
-You got it buddy.
-But we're looking out for you.
That was my bad
also.
You cannot blame any editor or producer for that.
I think I hate still the e-mail.
At some moments like, I don't know.
I think this is the specs for that and I must have been using the Touch specs.
So, good correction, Anonymous.
-Yes.
-Anonymous.
Keep the feedback coming, Anonymous, or otherwise, we love you always on expert viewers.
You can e-mail us at alwayson@cnet.com or of course, find us on Twitter, Facebook or Google Plus.
And that's it for this week, everyone.
When we come back next week, you will finally see
the BlackBerry Z10 road test from Barcelona, Spain.
-You will also see us unbox Sony's new Xperia Z.
-Surprisingly hot smartphone.
-Uh-hmm.
-That is all coming up next week.
Thank you for watching, everyone.
-See you next week.
-It's not like reading in the bathtub.
So relaxing.
Bubbles.
So, I gotta bring my Optimus G in the bath with
me, which bangs the question, bubbles are slippery.
-My Optimus G [unk].
-That's the Nexus 10.
-Do you think the Optimus [unk]?

Coming up next

Unboxing the Asus PadFone Infinity, Episode 44

Always On Season 5 bloopers!

It's the best of Always On, Season 5!

High-tech wine

Crushing the Lumia 1020

Unboxing Apple's iPhone 5S

Episode 54: Unboxing Apple's iPhone 5S in gold

Episode 53: Road testing the iPhone 5C

Wired hotels

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